ATLANTA — Georgia House Republicans pushed through a new proposal to address fast-rising property tax bills just ahead of the Friday deadline to move legislation between the House and Senate
House Bill 1116 has been evolving constantly, having started the year as a vehicle to eliminate property taxes.
The new version would merely aim to restrain rather than eliminate property taxes. It would cap annual increases at the greater of 3% or the rate of inflation under the federal Consumer Price Index.
Rep. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, has been re-writing the bill at a feverish pace, converting it to a measure that he said would not require a constitutional amendment. A companion measure that would have placed a referendum to change the constitution on the ballot failed on the House floor Tuesday.
Republicans characterized the new HB 1116 as a way to address runaway housing prices.
“This is a pragmatic, level-headed solution to the problem,” said Rep. Chas Cannon, R-Moultrie.
Democrats didn’t think so. The bill passed over their objections 98-68.
“All of my cities are telling me it’s going to gut their operations,” said Rep. Shea Roberts, D-Atlanta. “This is insane.”
She said it would rip more than $50 million out of the budget of Sandy Springs, reducing money available for core services like public safety. She called it a “defund the police” bill.
The measure would also allow local governments to use a penny sales tax to offset property taxes.
ATLANTA — The slate of candidates for this year’s Georgia elections is now set, sparking a fierce competition before primaries in two months and general elections in November.
Voters will have many choices up and down the ballot, including elections for governor, Congress and all 236 seats in the General Assembly. Qualifying to run for office ended Friday.
The race for governor drew a crowded field from both Republicans and Democrats to replace Gov. Brian Kemp, who will leave office after serving two terms.
The top candidates on the Republican ballot for governor include Attorney General Chris Carr, health care executive Rick Jackson, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Democratic gubernatorial candidates include former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former state Sen. Jason Esteves, state Rep. Derrick Jackson, and former DeKalb County CEO Mike Thurmond.
This year’s elections will also shake up Georgia’s congressional delegation, no matter who wins.
Four out of Georgia’s 14 U.S. House members aren’t seeking reelection, all of them Republicans.
U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins are instead running for U.S. Senate against Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff. Former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley is also in the Republican race for Senate.
In addition, U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk is retiring, and former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned in January.
Among Democrats, longtime U.S. Rep. David Scott faces challenges from former Gwinnett County school board chair Everton Blair, state Rep. Jasmine Clark, and state Sen. Emanuel Jones.
Statewide offices drew plenty of intraparty competition, from lieutenant governor to the Georgia Supreme Court.
The races for lieutenant governor are dominated by rivalries among state senators. Republicans running for Georgia’s No. 2 job include Sens. Gregory Dolezal, Blake Tillery, and Steve Gooch, along with former Sen. John F. Kennedy. Democrats will pick between Sens. Josh McLaurin and Nabilah Parkes.
Two Democrats are mounting challenges against incumbent Georgia Supreme Court justices. Former state Sen. Jen Jordan is seeking to unseat Justice Sarah Warren, and trial attorney Miracle Rankin is running against Justice Charlie Bethel.
Georgia’s primary elections are scheduled for May 19, followed by runoffs June 16 if necessary. The winners of each party’s primaries will face off in the general election Nov. 3.
ATLANTA — Georgia senators shot down a bill Friday that would have switched the state’s voting method to paper ballots filled out by hand before this November’s elections.
The bill’s defeat sets up a scramble for Georgia lawmakers to find a way to remove computer QR codes from ballots this year, as required by a state law passed two years ago.
The Senate voted 27-21 on the bill, two votes short of the majority needed for legislation to pass in the 56-member Senate. Seven senators skipped the vote following warnings of election “chaos” if it passed.
“We’re at an impasse,” said Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania. “If we ignore it again, we’re just going to kick the can. Sooner or later, folks, you have to pay the piper, and it’s time to remove the QR codes.”
Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, speaks in favor of a Senate Bill 568, which would have required voters to use hand-marked paper ballots in November’s elections on Friday, March 6, 2026. The bill fell short of the majority needed to pass. (Ashtin Barker/Capitol Beat)
All in-person Georgia voters use touchscreens that print out paper ballots, which are then tabulated by scanning machines that read a QR code. Critics of Georgia’s voting technology say the QR codes prevent voters from being able to ensure that their ballot accurately reflects their choices.
Hand-marked ballots are the main election day voting method in two-thirds of the United States, according to the election technology organization Verified Voting.
The effort to replace Georgia’s voting equipment, purchased for over $100 million before the 2020 election, is driven by a combination of election skeptics and election security advocates.
The legislation, Senate Bill 568, also would have limited early voting locations. Currently, Georgians can vote in advance of an election at any location in their county, but the bill would have assigned voters to one site to ensure the correct ballots are pre-printed for each jurisdiction.
“It would be chaos if we were to implement it this fast,” said Sen. Kim Jackson, D-Stone Mountain. “This bill is too hasty, it does not protect Georgians, and it fundamentally destabilizes our electoral system.”
Because SB 568 failed before Friday’s deadline for bills to pass at least one legislative chamber, either the state Senate or House, it’s likely dead this legislative session.
But it could be revived by amending a different elections bill that has advanced. One candidate is Senate Bill 214, a measure that cleared the Senate last year that would also require almost all Georgia voters to bubble in their choices instead of using touchscreen computers.
Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, said lawmakers need to prioritize converting to hand-marked ballots now, before this year’s midterm elections.
“All we’ve heard is excuses,” Dolezal said. “Here we sit after having promised that we would do it after the last election, and it’s still not done. … I don’t think it’s ever going to be easy.”
Georgia’s primary election in May will still be held with the touchscreen voting technology, but the state law prohibiting QR-coded ballots goes into effect July 1.
ATLANTA — The Georgia Senate adopted legislation Friday that would encourage judges to think of regular people when considering disputes about contracts between electric utilities and big customers like data centers.
The legislation is aimed at shielding residential customers from Georgia Power’s costs to build new power plants, transmission lines and other infrastructure as it ramps up to feed massive amounts of power to future data centers.
Democrats rejected the measure as fake protection.
Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, characterized Senate Bill 410 as “window dressing,” since it codifies what state regulators at the Public Service Commission have already been writing into contracts, rather than demanding other protections.
Consumer advocates have been critical of the commission because it voted in December to allow Georgia Power to add 10 gigawatts of power for data centers and because it allowed six rate hikes in recent years.
Critics contended that the contract terms would leave the public on the hook for expansion costs over the next half century if data centers failed to arrive in Georgia as promised — or left early.
“The public understands what is going on here and we are giving them the middle finger,” Parent said.
Republicans heralded SB 410 as an affordability measure that would protect rate payers. It would require that contracts include terms “designed to protect residential and retail electricity customers from costs associated with serving new large load customers … .”
Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, said critics of the legislation misinterpret it because of their disdain for Georgia Power, a monopoly electricity provider to a substantial proportion of the state population.
“Don’t let your hate for Georgia Power cloud your judgment on what this bill actually does,” he said on the Senate floor.
Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, answers questions about Senate Bill 410 in the Georgia Capitol after the Senate passed the legislation on Friday, March 6, 2026 . The bill addresses data center tax exemptions and sector effects on other electricity ratepayers. (Ashtin Barker/Capitol Beat)
The bill attempts to fill gaps that were opened after Senate Bill 34, a measure that consumer advocates praised, was heavily amended. It initially prohibited electric utilities from recovering costs for serving data centers and other high-demand customers by raising rates on everyone else, including households and small businesses. It was revised by dropping the prohibition and leaving only the requirement that utility contracts protect residential and retail customers from large load costs.
During a committee hearing on SB 410 on Tuesday, Brass explained that the protective language in the bill would not be in law, but judges could find it in the preamble to the legislation in case someone sued.
“It will be in the notes to the code,” he said. “And the notes to the code can be used by the courts to help guide the courts’ interpretation of our law.”
Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, the author of SB 34, chairs the committee that heard SB 410.
“The intent of the legislature is here. It’s not codified into law, which would be my preference,” he said at the hearing. “But it’s basically what’s been worked out.”
Sen. Mike Hodges, R-Brunswick, a member of the committee, asked any lawyer on the panel to explain the legal implications of a preamble.
Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, a lawyer, explained that some courts ignore legislative intent while others consider it, and those that do would check the Legislature’s notes.
“So,” asked Hodges, “it might matter and it might not?”
“That’s fair,” Tillery responded.
SB 410 would also abolish tax exemptions for computer equipment and other technology used by future data centers, although existing centers could keep their exemptions.
Sen. Sonya Halpern, D-Atlanta, a member of the committee, raised concerns about that, saying the tax breaks had been “instrumental” in attracting Fortune 500 companies to Georgia.
Nonetheless, she voted to pass SB 410 out of the committee, which comprises several Democrats. The vote was unanimous.
But on the Senate floor Friday, Halpern and all the other Democrats who chose to vote went against SB 410. All Republicans voted for it. It passed 32-21. Later, Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, said Democrats had voted against ending corporate subsidies that would cost the state general fund $1.3 billion.
“The Democrats can sit there and debate all they want, but that’s what they voted against ultimately,” he said in a meeting with reporters.
Anavitarte, the Senate majority leader, said Republicans had just won on the main issue for voters this year, affordability. He nodded to the major upset in November when two GOP members of the Public Service Commission suffered defeat by Democrats who attacked them over those half dozen electricity rate increases. For the first time in years, Democrats were joining the five-member commission, albeit as a minority that would not be in control.
Even so, Republicans saw it as a warning for other elections: take affordability seriously.
“It’s no secret. You all know where the public sentiment is,” Anavitarte said. “I know where it is in my district. And people are tired of politicians making bad decisions. That’s why two members of the PSC were un-elected — because they did not vote in the interests of Georgians.”
ATLANTA — Republicans in the Georgia Senate passed a bill Friday that bans candidates from raising more than half of their campaign money from outside of the state, a limitation that Democrats said inhibits their fundraising in nationalized elections.
Sen. Timothy Bearden, R-Carrollton, said the bill is about preventing non-Georgians from influencing Georgia elections — not about targeting Democrats.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 33-21 to pass Senate Bill 423, sending it to the state House.
“This legislation promotes greater transparency in campaign finance, curbs the influence of dark money and ensures Georgia elections are driven by Georgians, not by outside forces,” Bearden said. “This measure promotes transparency without prohibiting speech.”
Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, said Republicans are using their political power to change campaign finance rules for their benefit.
“This is a bald attempt to say that if any Democratic candidate has national support, they need to cut it out,” McLaurin said. “Money is money y’all, and big money distorts politics, and this bill does nothing about that.”
Democratic candidates in high-profile Georgia races have often received more money than Republican candidates in recent years, according to campaign finance records.
If the bill also passes the state House and is signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, violations could be prosecuted as felonies with punishments up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $10,000.
That measure, House Bill 414, would allow the Georgia Ethics Commission to seek subpoenas against groups or individuals in other states who are suspected of breaking Georgia campaign finance laws, such as contribution limits or transparency requirements. HB 414 is now pending with Kemp.
ATLANTA — The Georgia Senate approved a bill Friday that broadens “stand your ground” self-defense protections, a proposal that critics said would help protect defendants such as those who murdered Ahmaud Arbery.
The 30-23 vote fell along party lines, with Republicans supporting the rights of Georgians to use force when needed during confrontations.
The legislation, Senate Bill 572, would allow people to claim immunity from prosecution soon after they’re charged, and cases involving claims of self-defense would only continue if there’s clear and convincing evidence of a crime.
Democrats opposed the bill, saying it would further empower those accused of wrongdoing during shootings.
They cited the case of Arbery, a Black man who was killed while jogging in Brunswick in 2020 by three white men, one of whom was a former police officer.
“If this bill had been law, it would have made it very difficult to prosecute those who are the murderers of Ahmaud Arbery,” said state Sen. Kim Jackson, D-Stone Mountain.
State Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, said the bill is needed to ensure that those accused of crimes are presumed innocent until found guilty.
“Those that murdered Ahmaud Arbery were found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Even though they tried to raise this defense, the jury still said they were guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” Strickland said.
